THE POWER OF PREVENTION, THE POWER OF ONE

The task before me appears daunting.

As the new prevention services coordinator for Bedford Youth and Family
Services, my charge is to reduce the incidence of high risk behaviors among
the young people of Bedford through effective programming. A prevention
specialist will digest a broad landscape of data, assess the capacity for
change and respond to the community with strategies that steer kids from
violence, substance use and other problem areas.

A prevention specialist can feel like the community meta-parent and on some
days I do.

The view from my window at Bedford High School is a peaceful autumn
schoolyard, but I will need to remain focused on more grim realities - like
news of a Columbine-inspired plot to blow up a Boston-area high school and
the stark statistics of drug and alcohol experimentation of Bedford youth.
According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered in 2002, 15
percent of our high school students are current smokers of marijuana and 40
percent are regular users of alcohol.

While Bedford is not faced with gang activity and street corner assaults,
15 percent of our eighth-graders had carried a weapon with them to school
within 30 days of being surveyed and 18 percent had been in a physical fight.

In the hallway behind me, students clamor enthusiastically around friends
and lockers, their spirits high in preparation for the weekend ahead. But I
know the high energy belies the weight under which they strain - the high
expectations of MCAS and college boards, sleep deprivation, stress and anxiety.

It may not be surprising that 71 percent of Bedford high school students
feel stressed, but it is more alarming that in 2002, 12 percent had
considered suicide and 5 percent actually attempted it. These young people
prepare to compete in a world that offers no guarantees for love, work or
security.

And while each generation must learn to navigate the unique challenges of
their era, this generation travels at high-speed along a complex and
media-driven highway of choices that include club drugs, designer drinks
and highly-stylized aggression. When times get tough, rather than rely on
the wisdom of parents, teachers or siblings, these kids will turn to their
peers instead.

So what can I do to help them? As a seasoned public health worker, I know
to turn to the science-based prevention strategies. I have witnessed the
power of communities to apply these successful formulas and stay ahead of
frightening trends like eating disorders, inhalant use, oxycontin and
bullying. I believe in the capacity of concerned, organized citizens to
draft policies and design effective programs that make a difference. And
like my colleagues, I pledge oath to the mantra, It takes a Village to
Raise a Child.

But, on occasion, battle fatigue sets in. Outcomes-based community planning
can be a long journey at snail's pace. We digest the data. We brandish our
diagnostic tools.

We meet again and again and then, voila, we emerge with a program that
might mean life or death to the body, mind or spirit of our children.

The real impact of our labor might remain unknown for years to come. This
is the reality of prevention programming (not unlike the reality of
parenting, it seems to me.) On days when I feel as though we've thrown our
best time and energy at the problems and still they remain unsolved, I have
learned to step back, to simplify.

On those days, I remind myself that perhaps part of the solution lies not
only in the power of the many, but also, in the power of one - the power of
one person to impact the life of a young person.

This is very like the power of mentoring.

Mentoring is the process of partnering a competent, caring adult with a
young person to function as a role model, listener and friend.

Mentors offer support and reinforcement in a world that often feels complex
and unsafe to kids. And as a prevention strategy, mentoring works.

Research tells us that the single most protective factor in fostering
resiliency in children is a vital, caring relationship with an adult
especially in cases where children are particularly at risk. While a
positive relationship with a parent is critical to keeping kids on the
right track, other adults can provide vital support especially where a
parent is unable, unwilling or partially unavailable to fulfill this role.
Even among mainstream students who fall outside of high-risk categories,
the single most protective factor across all health outcomes is a sense of
connection to parents and family, according to a recent National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The nation's oldest and largest mentoring program, Big Brother Big Sister,
has created a highly structured, highly successful mentoring model that
matches adults with 7- to 17-year-olds, many from single parent families.
In their words, "with so many negative influences pressing on today's kids,
having a positive role model is an important factor in how children fare in
life, now and in the future.

By providing children with caring adult role models and mentors, the
program helps kids find their way in an increasingly complex world." The
typical mentoring relationship involves two to four unstructured meetings a
month engaging in activities as simple as eating ice cream or as involved
as assisting with school projects.

Independent research has shown that Big Brother Big Sister programs have an
important impact on the youth they serve.

Mentored youth were 46 percent less likely to engage in drug use, 27
percent less likely to initiate alcohol use and 33 percent less likely to
act out violently than at-risk youth without mentoring.

These kids also demonstrated more positive attitudes towards school and
better grades, as well as have much higher levels of self-esteem.

Peter Benson, founder of the Search Institute, draws similar conclusions
about the importance of adult relationships in the lives of children and
the importance of youth being known over time by people to whom they are
not biologically related.

In their list of 40 assets that contribute to youth development, the Search
Institute cites "other adult relationships" as number three on the list
stating specifically "a young person receives support from three or more
non-parent adults" as criterion for positive growth.

Mentoring opportunities also exist closer to home. In Bedford, the Council
on Aging sponsors Angels without Wings, a volunteer program that recruits
elders to partner with youth of all ages in a variety of service
capacities. The PALS program, for instance, offers opportunities to assist
young people with developmental disabilities in social and recreational
activities. Other programs pair adults with middle school students to help
in academic preparation for the MCAS, a particularly stress-ridden test for
many. I invite you take a look at the young people in your life and
consider ways in which you might build a bridge.

November is Substance Abuse Awareness Month in the town of Bedford. It is
an opportunity to educate ourselves on the effects of drugs and alcohol
across the range of ages in our community.

It is also an opportunity to note that we, personally, might contribute in
a small way to help young people make wise choices that do not include
substance use and violent behavior.

Seeing ourselves as mentors or in supporting mentorship programs can help
extend the safety net that community prevention works hard to create.